Blu-ray Sales: Ted Loves Being High (Definition)

January 22nd, 2013

Like it did on the DVD sales chart, Ted led a trio of new releases that placed high on the Blu-ray sales chart. The film earned first place with 1.28 million units / $25.64 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 43%. That's very strong for a comedy, even one aimed at the prime demographic for Blu-ray.
The Bourne Legacy was better on Blu-ray with 663,000 units / $13.26 million, which was enough for second place. It was also enough for an opening week Blu-ray share of 54%. The Dark Knight Rises fell to third place with 580,000 units / $13.90 million for the week and the film now has totals of 3.13 million / $61.47 million after just two weeks of release. Ice Age: Continental Drift opened in fourth place with 385,000 units / $8.35 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 37%, which is good for a kids film, but not great. The BatmanTrilogy Box Set rounded out the top five with 176,000 units / $6.34 million for totals of 688,000 units / $20.65 million.

There were no other new releases to chart, but it is worth noting that The Avengers reached 5 million units in total sales. This isn't a record, but it is a stunning result.

I thought this week would be rather bad on Blu-ray, as I didn't think Ted could compete with Batman on Blu-ray. Granted, the overall market did decline from last week, but by very small margins of 9% in terms of units sold and just 2% in terms of revenue. Compared to last year, Blu-ray saw growth of 34% in terms of units and 15% in terms of revenue. If the market could grow like that week after week, it would be a boon. DVD sales were more mixed. There were 3% more units sold, but 1% less revenue generated compared to last week. Compared to last year, there were fewer units sold, but by less than 1%, while there was 4% less revenue. The overall Blu-ray share was still strong at 39% in terms of units and 49% in terms of units.

Next week was a mess as far as new releases go, and I have no idea what will be the best selling new release. I can pretty much guarantee it won't finish first overall. Last year's new releases were not quite as bad, but we still had holdovers on the DVD sales chart and the Blu-ray sales chart.